Preview: Eric McClure/ No. 24 Hefty® Odor Block™ Ford
Venue: Bristol Motor Speedway
Circuit: NASCAR Nationwide Series (Race 24 of 35)
Event: Food City 250 (250 laps; 133.24 miles)
Primary Sponsor: Hefty® Brand—Lake Forest, IL
Associate Sponsors: K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. (Food City)—Abingdon, VA
Eric McClure/Hefty® Ford Notes of Interest:
* McClure Returns Home to Compete at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile
- Eric McClure returns to his hometown track this weekend to compete in the Food City 250, the site of his family’s first Sprint Cup win (Morgan-McClure Motorsports).
- The 30-year-old driver will compete in his 97th NASCAR Nationwide Series event; his eighth at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile”.
- Chassis # 28 will be used this weekend and it was last raced at ORP where it scored a 23rd-place finish.
- The Abingdon, Virginia resident has a best start of 28th (March 2008 and 2009) and a best finish of 24th (April 2007). In March, the RHR team finished 26th.
* Associate Sponsor for Bristol
- The No. 24 Hefty® Odor Block™ Ford will be sporting the Food City logo on the lower rear quarter-panels in Friday night’s race.
- Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores operates 99 food outlets throughout the tri-state regions of Southwest Virginia, Southeast Kentucky, and Northeast Tennessee.
- This is the second time this season Food City has been on the No. 24 Ford.
* Fun Activities for the Week
- Although McClure is closing in on his 100th career Nationwide Series start, he is more concerned about the weather for Friday’s race as he and his wife, Miranda, have been planning his second child’s (Maryleigh) first birthday party for Saturday.
- Furthermore, as the series visits the Southwest Virginia area, McClure and his father are hosting several of his sponsor reps at their houses for the weekend, and will have the race team over for a cook-out to show appreciation for their hard work this season.
* Up to Speed
- Catch all of the action live on Friday, August 21, 2009 (EST) on ESPN2. PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will also broadcast the event live.
Eric McClure, driver of No. 24 Hefty® Odor Block™ Ford Fusion quotes:
(What are your thoughts heading in to Bristol and what does it mean for you as a driver to be able to spend the weekend at home with your family?)
“This is a great week to be racing at home. I can be with the family each night, tuck the girls in and what not. That’s huge to me. We’ve got several Hefty® reps coming in for the weekend and we will have the guys up at Dad’s house after our appearances for Food City and just hang out for a night. Maryleigh’s birthday party is Saturday since we’ll be in Canada on her actual birthday. It’s really a laid back week, despite everything that’s going on, and we’re looking forward to it.”
“I’m looking forward to the race. We had an okay run in March, certainly weren’t bad at the end of the race, so hopefully we can build on that. After the troubles we had during June we’re, finally, locked in solidly in the top 30 in Owner Points so we’re going to go try and have a good day in front of the home crowd and try to keep climbing the ladder a bit. Bristol owes us something good for once.”
(On Food City’s partnership with the #24 at BMS for the second time this season)
“It’s a privilege for us to have Food City on the car for another event at Bristol. Their support of our race team has been a blessing to us in many ways and we’re grateful for the opportunity to represent them in their race. They’ve been a part of national racing at BMS and grassroots racing in the local region for quite a few years. To be one of the local drivers to compete with their brand at this level and participate in their Family Race Nights is quite special for me, personally. Hopefully we will do a good job for them.”
